Winter Wonderland--Snow Globes Tutorial

We are sad that Christmas decorations are coming down. It's too soon for Valentine's Day, so what's a girl to do?

Make Snow Globes!!!

Snow globes make great winter decorations and don't need to be Christmas-focused. Here's a how-to for creating easy and adorable snow globes.

Shopping List:

Supplies for 4 snow globes

• Jars with lids that are water-tight
• Glitter
• Ornaments/figurines
• Stones (mancala or marbles)
• Hot glue gun

How-to:
1.  Using the hot glue gun, glue the stones to the inside of the lid. Glue the ornament on the stones.

2.  Fill the jar with 1-2 Tbsp of glitter.

3.  Fill the jar with water then screw on the jar lid tightly.

4.  Turn it so the ornament is right-side-up and give it a shake.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finished DIY snow globes! :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tah-dah! That's all it takes to create a cute snow globe to decorate for the 
winter!

Give it a try...It's fun to get creative with what to put inside!


 

Dress It Up with an Infinity Scarf

The Infinity Scarf (loop scarf) is a unique and trendy way to spice up an outfit. They look great with anything from a simple t-shirt to a sweater to a winter jacket. I've seen Infinity scarves in cotton voile (a very soft, lightweight fabric) to knits to rayon and in any pattern and color under the sun.

Years ago, an old roommate made an Infinity scarf for me as a holiday gift. It was a long piece of fabric sewn once to connect the ends. Although cute, I spend lots of time adjusting it to hide the rougher edges and seems.

Recently, I learned how to sew Infinity scarves in a tube, so that no seems show through. I'm giving them as holiday gifts to girlfriends, customizing the patterns for their personalities. The scarves turned out so well, I want to start selling them. Stay tuned!

Here is a picture of one of the scarves. Wouldn't this be great with a brown leather coat?

Infinity Scarf

Cookie Baking Extravaganza!

It's been awhile since our last post.  We have been busy with the holiday season!  Shopping, spending time with family, and of course, baking!  We'll give you a glimpse of our Christmas cookie baking and share the recipes we have made! 
  
Last Sunday, when it was snowing like crazy in Minneapolis, we thought, what better day to stay inside and bake dozens of cookies?!  30 dozen cookies to be exact.  No, we didn't have any reason to make this many cookies...other than we wanted enough to share with work, friends and family! :)

As long as we were stuck inside, why not bake like crazy?!  Here are our supplies before our 7 hour baking frenzy.

Gathering our supplies before baking

We looked all over for both new recipes and some of the tried and true recipes and we ended up with a pretty solid lineup.  

We made (see links for recipes):
*Turtle Cookies: These ones are great!  The perfect combo of pecans, chocolate and caramel. Definitely a winner!

*Salted Caramel Chocolate Shortbread Bars: These are another favorite!  Shortbread layer on the bottom, thick caramel layer in the middle, topped with chocolate and sea salt!  It makes an entire 8 x 13 pan!  This is a make your own caramel-but don't worry...it's easy with the candy thermometer!  Just follow the instructions as listed and ensure that you stop cooking the caramel when it's at 240°F.
  
*Mexican Wedding Cakes: Tried and true favorite!  Simple recipe, and delicious!

*Christmas Crock-pot Candy: 
This is the recipe that gave us the biggest headache.  We made it as directed and the peanuts ended up burning in the crock pot, even when on low.  We may see if there is a better way

*Chocolate Pretzel Rings: These ones are simple-no recipe needed!  Just set the oven at 275°F and put a baking sheet (with parchment paper) of pretzel rings with a chocolate kiss in the middle (we used caramel ones-yum!  You could use any of the flavors out there now) in for 3 minutes.  As soon as they come out of the oven press a M & M on the kiss and let it harden.

*Chocolate Peanut-Butter No Bake Cookies:These are so easy!  We were running out of vanilla extract and we were stuck inside because of the snow, so we couldn't run to get more-so we replaced the vanilla with almond extract.  This substitute was a good surprise!

 We cannot take credit for any of the recipes, so please see the links above to get the recipes. :)


Here are our finished products!

Yum!!

We hope you try these simple and delicious recipes!  Share some of your favorites in the comments below!